Princess and the Pea

While Ryan and I have been working on our house, the kids have had a lot of free reign of the house.  This was one of their better projects:

They pulled all the cushions off the couch and rocking chair to play Princess and the Pea.  Luckily, we didn't have any frozen peas in the freezer, so we had to make due with some plastic food.

Summer Projects

We have owned our home for 5 years this summer.  Ryan and I have never been a fan of the color of our house.  When giving directions to our house, we say something like, "...the ugly brown house...."  Well, this summer we finally decided to do something about it.  We actually got around to checking off "Paint House" on our home improvement list.  Yippee!

(Before picture-- the dirty diaper brown house)

After a coat of primer and new trim around the windows.

 Painting the grooves of the T1-11.  What a long, drawn-out, time-consuming process!

Done!  I still do need to put another coat of paint on the front door, which is why there is blue painters tape still up.

Nap time

Annie and Maddie don't really take naps anymore.  We have mandatory "quiet time" after lunch instead, where I make sure the child lock is on their bedroom door handle for at least a half hour.  Once or twice a week they both conk out, and then another day maybe one of the twins will take nap, and the other will pound on the door to be let out.

I'll take what I can get.

Yesterday, Ryan felt like he needed an afternoon nap, so he went in a bedroom with the twins to lie down.  Elizabeth originally went in for quiet time as well, but it lasted about 3 minutes.  So I took Emma and Elizabeth to the store for a quick errand.

When I got back, Ryan greeted us at the front door.  "Did you get a nap?" I asked.

"Yes, I did."

"That's great!  Did the twins sleep at all?"

"No, I don't believe so.  I was dreaming and the dream took a weird turn.  I started dreaming about poop, then I woke up to Maddie sitting on my head.  And she was telling me 'Poop' every time she bounced on my head."

I was really sorry I missed that.  I would have had a good laugh.

The best part is- Annie had a dirty diaper too.  Ryan was stepping outside to throw both diapers away when the girls and I arrived home.  I missed both diapers!

Independence Day

We had a very busy, fun filled 4th of July.  Our day started with swim lessons for Emma and Elizabeth.  Just as soon as they were done, we put some shorts and t-shirts and walked down the street to watch our 2nd annual 4th of July parade.

(I found Dora to be just a little creepy though.)

Gotta love the rural towns- tractors everywhere.

(Waiting for the parade to begin.  Pictures are a little out of order.)

We had a fly-by of 2 fighter jets at the end of the parade.  It was loud, but great to watch.

We had dinner with two other families.  The company was great and so was the food.  It was traditional holiday fare- bbq chicken (really tasty), salad, chips, raspberry pie and raspberry cheesecake. 

After dessert, we ran home to put on bathing suits and went to our annual swim party at the community pool.  (Hm, maybe not so much dessert next time...)  We played and swam, and I caught kids at the end of the water slide.  Every one of my kids went down the water slide.  Alone.  They are all such big girls now!

At 8:30, we dried off and took ourselves home.  We got on our pjs, and then went down to the high school to watch the firework show. 

Emma, Elizabeth and Annie all enjoyed the fireworks.  Maddie fell asleep.

Leg Warmers

Maddie found these old leg warmers in the dress-up box, and thought they would would be perfect for Mommy.  After all, they were Mommy's leg warmers.  Back in the '80s.

They almost still fit.

Still Alive

I've been horrible about posting lately.  Sorry, folks.  You'd think with those nice long, lazy days of summer, I'd have plenty of time for posting on my blog.  Unfortunately, it hasn't been like that.  Long and crazy would be good adjectives for my life.

We've been doing gardening, canning, house fixing, house painting, swim lessons, playing, reading, laundry, wondering where on earth my marbles have gone, coloring, giggling, more laundry, and getting started in my new calling at church.

That's right- a new calling.  I should have known it was coming.  I was getting all together too content with teaching my 4 and 5 year old class.  We had a pretty good routine going, and while there were some Sundays I came home from church feeling absolutely exhausted, I loved my little class.  (With an average attendance of 8 or 9-- so, not that little for a Primary class....)

We got a visit from a member of our Bishopric one fine Wednesday evening.  The old Primary Presidency is being released, and the new President had requested me to be 1st Counselor.

AAAGGGHH.  My days of quietly being NOT in the limelight were done.  Over.  My fears of getting up in front of a big group of people (mostly kids, notwithstanding) were being realized.

Welcome to anxiety, sleeplessness and night-time obsession/rehearsing so not to sound stupid in front of people and replaying something dumb I've said over and over so I can make myself squirm. 

Tomorrow is it.  I have my first Sharing Time lesson.  I prepared.  Here's hoping my brain doesn't completely abandon me in front of people like it usually does.

But at least I know that Sunday night at dinner my husband will love me as much as he does now, regardless of the outcome.  He's nice like that.  He's been wonderful, trying to give me pep-talks.  He says silly things like, "You will do great," and "I'm there for you."

Lake Chelan

One evening while we were away, we took a drive out to Lake Chelan.  

 We took a walk around the river and found a nice spot to throw sticks and rocks into the water.  It's a Kannely tradition, whenever possible. :)

Itchy

One of the parks we visited had a swarm of mosquitoes that attacked us mid-day.  Yes, that's right.  Not during the twilight hours, but smack dab in the middle of our noon picnic. 

The aftermath of our picnic made itself known later on in the day.  The kids were all scratching themselves, looking like they had a case of chicken pox.  (Hey, can we come swim with you?  Promise we aren't contagious....)  I didn't get many, but I sure swelled up.

This is after 30 hours of ibuprofen and benedryl.  It was much larger and redder earlier.  Annie and Maddie kept pointing at my elbow and telling me I had an "ouch" and the older girls had a good laugh at my expense.  Even Ryan got in on the fun, and said I had a knobby elbow.

He always knows how to make me feel better.

Ag Teacher's Conference

Last week we accompanied Ryan to his yearly teacher conference.  All 6 of us in one hotel room for several days- a parent's dream, right?  I decided this was a better alternative to spending those days at home alone with the kids.  At least we'd be able to see Ryan in the evenings.

We traveled in style- we brought cereal, bread, peanut butter, honey and fruit for our breakfasts and lunches.

 Elizabeth thought the grapes made a good head dress.

While Ryan was enjoying his time of being a student, the girls and I explored Wenatchee.  We went for walks from the hotel to the Columbia River, checked out the local parks (and got attacked by mosquitoes-- but more on that later), went to story time at their much larger and cooler library and generally tried to pass the time.

 Monday night we took Quizno's sandwiches and cherries to a park for a picnic.  Elizabeth tried to make herself look like a chipmunk.

 Wenatchee has some good summer programs.  They have these splash pools and games and activities in the afternoons.  Elizabeth and the twins loved the splashing.

 And the worms that Elizabeth found when the water was let out.  (Ew.)  She tossed them (quite literally- they flew for a while) into the grass when she was done with them.

I was glad we decided to go with Ryan up until the last night we were there.  Sometime around 3 am there were retching sounds coming from the floor.  Annie decided to make our trip complete by getting sick all over her shared bed.  Maddie ended up in bed with Ryan and me, while Annie (after she'd been bathed) spent the rest of her night being swaddled in dry towels on the floor.  Those towels had to be changed out once or twice.  It was less than pleasant not being able to get more blankets, and having to keep all those smelly things in our room with us. 

Ah, memories in the making.

Dress Up

Summer is a good time for pretend play.

All of my princesses like the box of dress-up clothes.  Annie and Maddie both are wearing "dress-up dresses" over the dress they chose for the day.  Silly girls.